E3 2008: Race Pro Hands-on

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We take Atari's Xbox 360-exclusive racing sim for a serious spin.

By Ryan Geddes

The Swedish developer SimBin is known for its PC racing simulations, especially the GTR series, which is known for hewing strictly to racing reality. Now the developer is taking that sim focus to the console with Race Pro, under development exclusively for Xbox 360.

Publisher Atari had an early demo version of the title on hand at E3 this week, and we got behind the wheel for a few laps. There are about 15 different tracks in Race Pro and more then 300 cars ranging from about 200hp to more than 1,000hp. There are three different racing series available in Race Pro -- World Touring Car Championship, Formula 3000 and Formula BMW – but only the former was available in the demo so we took a Volvo and a Seat out for a spin.

Make no mistake. Race Pro is a hardcore sim. On novice difficulty with driver assists turned on, we slammed into three or four walls before the learning curve straightened out and we were able to actually control our car. If you're looking for an arcade-like forgiving racing game, this ain't it. And like any good racing sim, there's a huge amount of tweaking you can do to your car in Race Pro. Brakes, suspension, aerodynamics, wheels can be infinitely adjusted to suit your driving style.

This is what you'll see before you crash.

Although we didn't get to see the career mode, the meat of the racing game experience, we know it's based on creating a racer and competing for wins. After you win a few races, you'll be offered contracts that require you to participate in at least three races. Do well and you'll be offered contracts that are more and more lucrative. Make enough money and you can upgrade and purchase new cars to further your career. In addition to the Career mode, Race Pro also features Time Attack, Single Race and Championship modes to mix things up. The game will also include online multiplayer modes that support up to 12 racers over Xbox Live.

Race Pro is still a work in progress. In the demo we played, the cars' paint jobs weren't reflecting, the graphics were still not optimized and other touches were missing. But SimBin is serious about bringing its racing sim expertise to the Xbox 360, so we're anxious to see more of the game, which is expected to be released in the fall.